Madden 15's franchise mode instills confidence, wraps up ratings

EA Sports introduced its changes to Connected Franchise mode in Madden NFL 15 this week, which includes the replacement of the the series' hot/cold streak system with "game prep" and "confidence." The team-management mode now has players preparing their teams with individual position drills and activities to boost experience points and influence a dynamic confidence rating. The confidence rating fluctuates throughout the season with the highs and lows of athletes' performances. It also changes with trades, team wins and losses, and even more with blowout victories and defeats, impacting other key ratings along with it.

Additionally, Madden 15's Connected Franchise mode will include a tweaked free agency system in which available athletes will take factors like a team's needs, scheme and coaching ability into account when deciding where to take their career. It will also include entirely random draft classes for a change, with randomized names, ratings and traits for all incoming rookies. That marks a departure from previous franchise draft classes that had guaranteed-to-appear stars, such as Madden 11's Aspha Savage and K.C. Williams or Madden 25's Leon Sandcastle (yes, that Leon Sandcastle).

Among the other changes in the career mode, players will have the option to fire and hire their team's staff during the season, allowing them to cut ties with a coach that isn't getting the job done during a particularly tough year. The development team at EA Tiburon also updated the Pro Bowl format to reflect the NFL's real-life changes, in that the sports' all-star game of sorts no longer features conference allegiance. Lastly, the developer wrapped up its Madden 15player ratings this week with the AFC and NFC East and West divisions. Madden 15 will launch August 26 for Xbox One, PS4, Xbox 360 and PS3.